Does the Mainstream Financial Press LIE????

23

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- A home-sales revival that began last year in some of California's cheaper inland areas has begun to spread to several more expensive coastal areas, another hint that devastated real-estate markets in the state -- and other parts of the country -- may see less grim days ahead....

In Northern California, a big factor is first-time buyers like Denise and Steve Petrosky, who are newly optimistic about the market and can afford a home for the first time. The Petroskys in February paid $374,900 for a three-bedroom home in Morgan Hill, just south of San Jose, that last sold in 2006 for $610,000.

GROWTH???? Shows GROWTH??????? Who the blank are they kidding????? How stupid do they think there readers at the WSJ are......could you imagine if TMF treated its community that way????????

HOME PRICES ARE IMPLODING IN CALIFORNIA!!!! THE ARTICLE CITES AN EXAMPLE WHERE PRICES ARE DOWN ALMOST 50%. EXPERTS FORECAST FURTHER DECLINES!!!!

If the stock market fell 50% on increasing volumes AND further price declines were forecasted ahead.....do you think the headline would read STOCK MARKET SHOWS GROWTH????

Heck....NO!!!!! It would read Stock Market Collapses with Further Declines Ahead!!!! The fact that volume was increasing as stock prices were crashing would be viewed as more trying to sell.....NOT more buying. If prices were RISING it would be a different story.

At this point, you have to ask yourself does the WSJ really give a damn about its readers.....or do they just think its audience are a bunch of Fools?????

Could you imagine the GROWTH in sales if every home in the nation listed for the average current selling price of a home in Detroit......$6,000. Sure there would be growth in sales, but millions of families across America would be finanically wiped out!!!!!!!!

Clearly, the WSJ must really think its audience are complete idiots!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Maybe that is why TMF is so good!!!!!

HAVERHILL, Mass. -- At first glance, this old mill town near the New Hampshire border seems to be weathering the recession well.

Hard hats swarm empty brick factory buildings, turning them into upscale apartment complexes. New restaurants are opening, a suit manufacturer relocated here this spring, and the city recently got its first two national chain stores. Property-tax receipts are rising.

But in the former high-school building that now serves as city hall, times are tense. Eleven city workers face layoffs and five police jobs are in jeopardy. Parents are protesting the city-run schools' plan to cut back on gym, art and music classes. Mayor James Fiorentini has been threatening to close a firehouse if he can't get concessions from the firefighters' union.

The city's budget is coming up short, largely because Massachusetts's dire financial problems have prompted it to slash aid to local governments. Haverhill (pronounced HAY-vrel) expects to lose as much as $6 million in the fiscal year beginning July 1 -- out of an operating budget of $29 million.

"It's a hell of a cut," Mr. Fiorentini said.

THIS IS HAPPENING ALL ACROSS AMERICA.....MULTIPLY THIS BY THE TENS OF MILLIONS OF FEDERAL, STATE AND LOCAL WORKERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes Alstry, once again well and good, you are our only hope, still we were lead to believe that there was a forthcoming recipe for cooking ribs while drinking Guinness, or some such, that had made you famous. Please print promised recipe while America still has a curency capable of luring dark beverages from points east. By 9/09 it might well be too late.

I am 38 years old. I had a clothing company that went bankrupt due to high taxes, high rent, high levels of competition and back breaking 9-11-2001 business crash.

I went to UCLA and got a degree. I have moved to this country in 1993. There hasn't been one day that I had not been working or going to school less than 18 hours/day.

Currently I have 2 part-time jobs, make about 36,000/year. Have to pay back 25,000 in student loans (that is ballooning on me), Have to pay state and federal taxes that add up to 12,000. Pay $1500 rent, $320 car payment, $120 insurance per month.

You all do the math. And I am one of the lucky ones who has a university degree (UCLA) and 2 jobs.

Did I tell you all that I am 38? I speak 3 languages (Farsi, German, English), single, have no health insurance. Just paid $400 bucks to a doctor to take some x-rays from my hand.

Now you tell me that housing will get better?? When?

When a hard working, educated guy like me, a recent immigrant (1993) who is supposed to have more energy and work hardes can not afford to buy a house anytime soon, what do you think about the rest of population?!

THERE ARE NO BUYERS!!!! Even when real esate business was "good" it was like a pyramid skim. You were either in or out.

Sadly, I have come to the conclusion that in this country a hard working, educated man can not get ahead at all.

You have to become a criminal, do unethical work or be a celebrity of some sort to be able to buy a house. Or just be a blood sucking "doctor" and charge a poor guy $400 FOR 4 MINUTES.

I am a hard headed guy. My father was a big industrial guy (maing water pumps) in Iran and you can imagine how hard headed he is. He tells me I am hard headed. I never give up...but now for the first time in my life I am thinking to go back to Iran and piss on this life in the U.S.

This is the American dream? This is an American deceid. The rich are so rich that they don't care about anything and they get richer off our back.

Did you all know Sallie mae is a private company and is ripping off students. You can't figure out their statements and when you figure it it's shocking. When I called to defere my payment they changed my interest to 18% and I get to pay interest on interest.

Thank You USA. Thank you.

I wasted 200,000 dollars of my father money here. Paid thousands and thousands in taxes. Have worked like a dog more than 16 years, have gone to UCLA , never did drugs, never drank crazy...and at the end I have nothing...less than nothing...i am in debt to credit cards, student loans, back taxes....

If this was a small country we would have 10 revolutions by now. Maybe I should go back to Iran where people do have revolutions and things do get better and people eat healthy and have healthy relationships and have nice houses and have almost free health care.

The rich are killing us in this coutry. Why can't we have a public insurance who would compete with private insurance...what is so bad about having postal service and FedEx?

I too agree that mass media has not been as forthright as they need to be. I too ask myself why are they writing articles with so much bias and then get past the editors to get printed, televised and broadcasted out to the masses. It is very frustrating then when the time comes that is so obvious you do stop and ask yourself "how stupid do they think I am?"

There are many people who do believe that if it is in print its true. which then lends my mind to "how many times have I fallen for this. What is the purpose that they want me to believe this bias or the often times worse, not the whole story. There is no stopping it from there as then you ask is the government working with media to make us complacient. It all became too much for me to take any of it seriously. My conclusion for myself became there is information and there is editorials there is no news anymore. Everything they call news now days should be called Editorials, Editorial pappers, the six o clock editorial, The editorials tonight at eleven on FOX. I believe this will only get worse as more and more people have access to give an even more bais view to the public as we can here. At least here it can be debated, torn apart, and not just printed as the simple truth.

My favorite example of this is when anyone tries to justify a 50,000,000 bonus and other executive pay becuase they need to retain top talant. I am suppose to believe that this one man can do more than a staff of 1500 people on the average wage. We are to believe that it just cost too much to do work here in the US, and layoff the whole workforce to move it somewhere else and then get in bonuses more than all the wadges of the intire workforce they just said they couldnt afford. How can they live with themselves little long say it with a stait face. Am i suppose to get excited when someone wins the million dollars on a gameshow knowing that this is weeks pay to someone.

The issue in America right now is the issue around the world. However, from an objective standpoint, save the political issues, if you are connected in your home country, there might be more opportunities than here in the states right now.

As far as the rich, don't fool yourself....they are being affected by this downturn as well. Ask yourself what does the rich own??? They own businesses, stocks, bonds, and real estate. All four are in the tank and the outlook is not very positive right now for many businesses.

The other issue is where will the government get money to operate if only the rich have money??? That's right...they will have to tax the rich every dime they have and soon they will be poor.

An even bigger issue in America right now is the solvency of the Federal Reserve. Right now the world is losing trust in the dollar and Rep. Ron Paul has initiated a bill in the House to audit the Fed.

The outcome of a sharply devalued dollar could have a profound impact on the citizens of America and the world in general. Ask your father about what happened in Iran to the currency after the revolution in 1979....and then ask him how people made it through it after real estate became essentially worthless and few businesses were able to function.

Now think about that happening to America and happening to the world's RESERVE currency. It is the RESERVE currency because their is trust in its central bank......how much trust do you think exists today.

On the bill it says In God We Trust......but the world is saying Benny We Don't Trust You!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And if enough Trust is lost....we are in for some crazy times in America because we are not socially prepared to exist as economically broken nation.

Is it just me or have they been Obama policy cheerleaders all year? And to add insult to financial injury, I keep reading in their pages that "Obama has not gone far enough."

Am I missing something here? As the title of the magazine implies, it's for economic and business folks. But anyone who actually follows what's happening with the economy would not, and should not, be leading the charge for more of what government is burdening us, and our children with.

The world is cheering on Obama to "keep on keeping on." If he does, America will be bankrupt in relatively short order and lose its Primary Superpower positioin.....you would almost think that the Federal Reserve is on the payroll of the Foreign Bankers and not the American citizens anymore.

The fact that the mainstream American press is lockstep with Fed policies.......it appears we are the ones in the crosshairs this time.....unfortunately.

Alstry is right. Even rich people are nervous. If the dollar tanks, a great deal of personal wealth of all US citizens living and with hard assets in the United States is going to tank right with it. Where to hide? Not too many places unfortunately.

Our personal solution is to have gotten completely out of debt, storing up cash reserves for several years expenses including property taxes (at the present levels plus 10%) learning to love simplicity, ramping up our fitness and health to rely less on medical services and to be able to withstand manual labor in our 50s and beyond. We have diversified as much as feasible for our personal situation, traded unneeded assets (a business, antiques, collections) for those that will function in most economic situations such as a live aboard sized sailboat, we have plan A, B. C and D, and are living well below our means having a decent store of liquid assets to give us last minute flexibility to maneuver should the dominoes start falling quickly.

We are not worried about losing out on an upside so our hedging is purely on loss prevention and then finally if that is not possible, keeping us out of the bread/soup lines should it ever come to that.

Frankly I don't know in a total meltdown situation who will be hit the hardest. I sometimes think that it will be the people that are more well off, the boot-strappers such as ourselves that did everything right, educated ourselves (literally in my case) lived below our means for years, saved rather than spent, to have it all disappear in taxes and runaway inflation should it come to that. Yes our class will likely be the last in the bread lines but that it wasn't even remotely our own doing, that we will have been the victims of a kleptocracy, will be the most bitter consequence of all.

God only knows I'm hoping that Alstry is wrong as should every one of us. Unfortunately I don't see a way out of this Gordian Knot. I see no knife on the horizon.

Growth? Must be the "new growth", right along with those green shoots we've been hearing about but that none of us has seen. I added a note to another blog yesterday about taking a donation to a homeless shelter and seeing among the usual clientele, what appeared to be a fair number of middle class looking folks and families. We haven't even been hit hard up here yet. It was sobering and upsetting.